Foundation Grants

Richard Wright and Paul Green c. 1940 UNC Campus at work on the Native Son stage play.

GRANT DEADLINES: October 1 &
April 1

CALL FOR PROPOSALS:

THE PAUL GREEN FOUNDATION, named for
the famed North Carolina author, humanitarian and civil rights activist,
seeks grant proposals from North Carolina 501(c)(3) organizations to support Dramatic Productions, Projects and Programs or Publications
that reflect the life’s work and values of Paul Green.

Proposals should focus on efforts to
uphold basichuman rights and racial
equality,dramatic art,and literary projects,which could include the promotion and preservation of Green’s own literary works.

Proposals to fund projects that
combine any of the three above would be welcomed.For example, Green’s plays and stories
typically supported his social conscience. A proposal in which an art form is
made to serve the cause of human rights would be particularly appropriate.

Green’s Accomplishments and Values

Paul Green (1894-1981), born and
raised on a North Carolina Harnett County cotton farm, learned the value of
hard work and the love of music and literature in his family home.With these skills and passions he went to
the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1916 to study philosophy
and drama and began what would become a long life of service to others less
fortunate than he, and a life devoted to literature and music.

In 1927, Green received the Pulitzer
Prize in Drama for his Broadway play, In
Abraham’s Bosom that depicted the tragic life of a struggling Black man
who wanted his people to have access to education.In 1941, he wrote the Broadway play for
Richard Wright’s powerful novel Native
Son, dramatizing the oppressive effect of racism on the Black population
in 1930’s America.

Paul Green lived his long life with
compassion and action for the people whose lives were rife with
inequality.He used his powerful pen
to affect social change with the writing of a one-act play, “Hymn to the
Rising Sun” that challenged the right of the State to continue the inhuman
and cruel chain gangs.He was firmly
opposed to the death penalty and stood as a “Lone Vigil” on nights of
executions.

Green may be perhaps best known for
founding the American Outdoor Historical Drama movement in 1937 when he wrote
The Lost Colony.This epic play – still in production –
brilliantly dramatizes the courage, the depth of integrity, and the devotion
to freedom that are the hallmarks of the American character. Green went on to
write sixteen more such dramas for large outdoor venues from Texas to
Virginia, dramatizing significant events in the life of the nation, performed
in amphitheatres on or near the sites where the events actually occurred.

A former professor of Philosophy and
Drama at UNC-Chapel Hill, Green was the author of Broadway plays, Hollywood
feature films, novels, poems, short stories and scholarly essays.His writing, more often than not, combined
his literary genius with the stories of people who had experienced great
hardship and loss in their lives.

Eligibility:North Carolina 501(c)(3)

Level
of Support:Ranging from
$500 - $2,500

Schedule:Two grant cycles per calendar year: Postmark
Deadlines by April 1 and October 1.

oApril
Grants
announced by May for use through December of the same year OR exclusively in
the next calendar year.

oOctober
Grants
announced by November for use in the next calendar year.

Proposals
should include these initial materials – finalists will be asked for
additional information:

§Organization’s
tax exempt I.D. letter or that of an appropriate fiscal agent

§Project
description and explanation for how the proposal fits the criteria